Are the wheels falling off at Arsenal

Gunners fans have suffered a miserable week. Bayern Munich piled onto the pain with a 5-2 second-half lesson in the Champions League. The result arrived days after Arsenal failed to fire against Everton in a dead rubber.

In the background is a fiery debate on scheduling and England’s refusal to follow other competitions to assist clubs competing in Europe to play earlier in the weekend, rather than on “Super Sunday”. The discussion ignited further following Chelsea’s postponed match against Manchester United.

Jonas Eidevall has been a harsh critic, and travelling to Munich for a Wednesday game isn’t easy after playing on Sunday. But, Arsenal has built the depth to deal with this sort of situation. Kyra Cooney-Cross sat on the bench for the more experienced Lia Walti, while the front three have been a revolving door so far this season. 

No matter the excuses, a 5-2 defeat after scoring the first goal is as bad as overcooking a quality steak, just woeful. Tears rightfully should be shed. So let’s break it down, here’s the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

Mariona Caldentey is a shining light. She’s someone to build a team around. But it’s not smooth sailing.

The attacking midfielder is playing off a different songbook than her teammates. She’s always one step forward both with and without the ball. She has awareness, plays the one touch passes when it’s on and looks for the give and take in her movement on the pitch. There were moments when those around her were on a different wavelength, which halted the build up she was tailoring.

Throw in the game’s opening goal, scored from one touch from a darting cross, and it was a good day for the Spaniard in an otherwise difficult time in the office.

One key reason Munich arm-wrestled the game into their favour was shutting Caldentey out of the match.

The Bad

Conceding four goals in the second half isn’t ideal. Another sour point also arrived with three out of five conceded were from headers when a Bayern player seemingly leapt free of the pack, unchallenged to score. 

To be fair to the Gunners, someone at half time clearly got into Pernille Harder’s ear and reminded her she’s facing her old arch rivals. The former Chelsea attacker was the dynamite that exploded any glimmer of hope that Arsenal would snatch points away from home against the German giants.

Old grudges aside, it still stands you can’t go conceding that many goals in one half. Arsenal’s game plan of a high press to win the ball in the top third appeared to be a decent one in the first half. They kept the ball in their attacking territory with confidence, and despite conceding a goal through fast passes breaking down the midfield and giving too much space to eventual scorer Glodis Viggosdottir, Arsenal looked the better.

But they failed to adapt in the second half when tired legs came into effect and a tired midfield from a stretched match was exposed. Arsenal then totally flopped like a deck of cards whenever a cross flew in requiring a header … one that Harder exposed greatly.

The Ugly

Arsenal’s forward line isn’t clicking. Scoring two goals only papers over the cracks that Eidevall hasn’t figured out the working combinations yet.

When the North London side looked most likely to stamp their authority on the match in the opening half an hour, they couldn’t capitalise. When Frida Maanum zigged, Stina Blackstenius zagged. 

The only combination that seemingly worked was Katie McCabe and Caitlin Foord, but that’s one that comes at the risk of being exposed defensively down the left hand side when McCabe is that far forward so often. 

English forwards Beth Mead and Alessia Russo came off the bench, along with young gun Rosa Kafaji, but it was too little too late. And a combination again that doesn’t look settled. 

The Gunners have enough quality players at their disposal in attack, and given it’s only Kafaji who arrived this summer, there should be a clear plan of how the different combinations are meant to work and play off one another — and most importantly be on the same page. 

These issues should’ve been ironed out over the summer given its the same reason Arsenal lost touch of the WSL title race last season. Their inability to  break down deep lying defences and capitalise on attacking possession is a headache that requires Panadol… stat.